Hafiz: The Prince of Persian Lyric Poets

36 Pages·1900·0.813 MB·English

by  Hafiz (Trans., Various)

NIVERSITYOFCALIFORNIA,SANDIEGO.
3 1822 00211 1755
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JOLU. CAUFORNW
I

The PpiRee
Persiara
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liyrie P©£ts
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MEW VOnK:
NO
Frederick fl. Stokes'
Co mpany
PUBUISHEI^S
M'Lagan & Cu.mming,
Chromo-Lithographers and Printers,
Edinburgh.
GAZEL ON HIS LOVE.
s?
Than all Bocara's vaunted gold,
Than all the gems of Samarcand.
Boy, let yon liquid ruby flow.
And bid thy pensive heart be glad.
Whatever the frowning zealots say
:
Tell them, their Eden cannot show
A
stream so clear as Rocnabad,
A
bowV so sweet as Mosellay.
Oh ! when these fair perfidious
maids,
Whose eyes our secret haunts infest.
Their dear destructive charms display,
Each glance my tender heart in-
vades.
And robs my wounded soul of rest,
As Tartars seize their destined prey.
In vain with love our bosoms glow
:
Can all our tears, can all our sighs,
New lustre to those charms impart ?
Can cheeks, where living roses blow,
Where Nature spreads her richest dyes,
Require the borrowed gloss of art ?
—
Speak not of fate : ah ! change the
theme.
And talk of odours, talk of wine,
Talk of the flow'rs that round us
bloom
:
'Tis all a cloud, 'tis all a dream
;
To love and joy thy thoughts confine,
Nor hope to pierce the sacred gloom.
Beauty has such resistless pow'r.
That ev'n the chaste Egyptian dame
Sighed for the blooming Hebrew boy
:
:
For her how fatal was the hour
When to the banks of Nilus came
A
youth so lovely and so coy
!
But ah sweet maid, my counsel hear
!
(Youth should attend when those advise
Whom
long experience renders sage)
:
While music charms the ravished ear,
While sparkling cups delight our eyes,
Be gay, and scorn the frowns of age.
What cruel answer have I heard ?
And yet, by Heav'n, I love thee still
Can aught be cruel from thy lips ?
Yet say, how fell that bitter word
From lips which streams of sweetness
fill,
Which naught but drops of honey
sip ?